Jeff Bagwell has been placed on the 15-day Disabled List.
I in this space saw it coming, but still feel no satisfaction in reporting it. As grim as it's getting for Bagwell, he was for many years considered the greatest player in team history, and still might be, by some (although I personally would give the nod to Biggio at this point).
The sad part is that Bagwell is a competitor. And because of that, he wants whatever will help the team win. But the possibility exists that whenever Bagwell is able to return, he will actually be hindering the team.
For some time actually, with his shoulder so bad he couldn't make the throw to second, this has been an issue. But now as the shoulder has sent him to the DL, he will have time to think on it, and wrestle with the consequences.
He's got gobs of money and a life of luxury, but I do not envy the man as he sits out over the next couple weeks, or until his next cortisone shot.
Tony Peña has resigned as the manager of the Kansas City Royals.
I was certainly one of the ones who had called for Peña, formerly the manager of the Astros' AAA New Orleans Zephyrs, to be hired instead of Jimy Williams after Dierker was relieved of his duties prior to the 2002 season. Peña was familiar with players like Morgan Ensberg, Jason Lane, and Roy Oswalt from his tenure with the Zephyrs, went the thinking, and would have been very able to make a seamless move into the Houston job.
Such thinking was seemingly vindicated in 2003 when Williams brought the Astros home second for the second straight year and Peña won the American League Manager of the Year award.
In ESPN's postmortem, they are writing that GM Allard Baird "loaded up on high-priced, underachieving veterans" for 2004. Other than maybe Juan Gonzalez, I don't know about that, but the Royals, after finishing with a winning record in 2003 and making Rob Neyer so very, very happy, the Royals backslid horribly in 2004, and finished with their worst record ever.
Not good.
But now aftert another poor start, Peña's up and quit, and I seriously doubt it was at Baird's instigation. Obviously, there are better places than Kansas City to manage. It is a complex blend of ingredients that come together in making Kansas City a perennially scuffling American League entry. Ownership, management, fans, and players can all be blamed. And Peña could hardly be blamed for wondering whether he could do better somewhere else (much as we wouldn't blame Lou Piniella).
But to up and quit? It rubs me the wrong way, and makes me think that McLane and Tal Smith got the answer right back in 2002 after all.